When shopping in retail stores, individuals typically possess electronic devices such as smartphones. Some retail store chains support applications that are executed by the electronic devices, where the applications have certain modes that offer or enable additional features relevant to the in-store experience. Activation of an “in-store mode” typically relies on geofencing, which uses a device's location to create a virtual geographic boundary that enables an application to trigger a response when the electronic device enters or leaves the boundary. Retail store chains generally set a default geofencing boundary for each retail store (e.g., a radius of fifty (50) meters), such that when it is detected than an electronic device is within the default geofencing boundary for a particular retail store, the in-store mode and its related functionalities are activated.
However, a default geofencing boundary is only consistently accurate when certain location-based and physical characteristics across the retail stores are consistent. In reality, retail stores differ in such characteristics as size and environment (e.g., an urban/rural classification). Additionally, location services that operate on electronic devices differ in accuracy depending on the strength of cellular connections and the density of wireless access points that may be used to pinpoint a device's location, among other factors. This results in instances of false positives, or a scenario in which a device activates the in-store mode when the device is not, in fact, located in the store (e.g., such as if an individual is walking by the store), and false negatives, or a scenario in which the device does not detect when it is actually located within the store. Although the default geofencing boundary may be adjusted, this still does not mitigate accuracy issues resulting from inconsistent store sizes, environmental characteristics, and location services processing.
Accordingly, there is an opportunity for technology to accurately and effectively manage and facilitate geofencing functionalities for electronic devices.